Crossing Over : Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic 3

F or many people, their first introduction to Samus Creagh and his music was the wonderful recording that he made with Jackie Daly in 1977, a record that has gone on to become a classic of the genre.Featuring the Sliabh Luachra repertoire and style of playing, it was generally assumed that both musicians came from that particular region in the southwest of Ireland.While this was true in Jackie's case, being a native of Kanturk, County Cork, this was not the case for Samus.He was born in Killucan, County Westmeath in 1946, where he first started to play music.In 1967, he made a 'weekend' trip to Baltimore in West Cork, and 'never went home'!From then on, Cork became his home, although he did spend some time in London, as well as five years in Newfoundland.On his arrival in Cork, he embraced the indigenous traditions of the instrumental music of Sliabh Luachra, as well as the singing of the Cil Aodha and Baile Mhirne areas.His musical partnership with Jackie Daly brought him to the attention of a wider audience in the traditional music world.They became very well known through their stellar performances, both in concerts and sessions, and acquired the status whereby they were generally referred to simply by their first names, 'Samus and Jackie'.Although I had known Samus during his early years in Cork, it was when he returned home from Newfoundland in 1993 that we began to meet and play more frequently together.We both were great admirers of the Sliabh Luachra unaccompanied fiddle tradition, with the twin-fiddle playing of Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford being a particular source of inspiration for us.We played many sessions together, and also performed at concerts and festivals.Among the highlights was our appearance at the Masters of Tradition Festival in Bantry, County Cork, in August 2005.Our performance on that occasion of three slides, 'The Toormore', 'The Gneeveguilla', and 'The Gleanntn Frolics', was subsequently included on the double-CD issued by RT Lyric FM featuring recordings from the festival.In 2006, we played at the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention (NAFCo) in Aberdeen, an event which gave us the opportunity to meet and play with many other fiddle-players from a variety of traditions.A particularly poignant memory for me is our concert appearance in the Lemon Tree at lunchtime on the Sunday, the last day of the festival.Towards the end of our set, we invited Jerry Holland to play some tunes with us on stage.Sadly, both Samus and Jerry are now gone from us.Little did I realise that this would be the last time that the three of us would play together.I often think about that occasion.Samus was delighted when we were invited to play at NAFCo 2008 in St. John's.For him, not only would we partake in a great event, but it also offered the opportunity to return to Newfoundland, the place where he had lived for five years, and where he had met and married Marie-Annick Desplanques.I have many vivid recollections of our concert appearances, workshops, and many sessions in St. John's two years ago.A special memory is the day we went to Carbonear to play at the Princess Sheila NaGeira Theatre.

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